Whale Watching in the San Juan Islands of Washington State

Thank you Jeff from Emerald Seas Whale Watching for sending me this great photo.

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Orcas attack gray whale near Whidbey Island

www.king5.com

Whale watchers caught a rare sight on Sunday. They saw a pod of transient Orcas attack a gray whale.

Great transient orca sightings today on our trip. I am always grateful for whales this time of year and to see these transients with myself and only one other boat near by, I couldn’t have asked for a better day.

We had a professional photographer on board today and he will be posting photos on his website. I’ll post his site when I hear back from him that he downloaded the photos and they’re up for viewing.

A small whale watch business here on the island has started advertising guaranteed sightings or your money back. I can’t tell you how deceptive that kind of advertising is and one that some of us will never resort to.

If anyone guarantees sightings it is only a way to sell you a ticket on their boat. ALL of the whale watch companies know where the whales are or aren’t. It is not a secret the one company has over the other. We all belong to a whale spotting network which comprises all of the whale watch companies working together. When one company sights a whale he/she lets all of the other companies know. The reason for this is that years ago we knew that the more people to see and orca whale, especially our southern resident whales, the better for the whales, because by seeing a whale in the wild, and being educated on what you are seeing, the public would want to know more and become involved with the whale’s well being and future.  So now a company that offer guaranteed sightings is using that to lure you on the boat offering a free trip if you do not see a whale.

Go with a company that has a long and strong track record.  We tell you ahead of time what the sightings are like. If there are no whales that day, you can opt out or come along for a cruise that won’t disappoint you. I can’t tell you how many times we have left the dock without a sighting only to get a report of whales. Don’t be fooled by hungary operators.

Also, while I’m at it, don’t listen to a company that tells you they see more whales than anyone else. Give me a break!

L pod, as well as J and K pod,  showed up on Sunday along the west side of San Juan Island and another new born was spotted. The mom appears to be L-77, Matia born in 1987. This is Matia’s first calf. Very exciting to see this baby boom going on.

Hello Everyone,

There has been kind of a mystery taking place on the west side of San Juan Island for the last two days. My favorite orca and allot of other people’s favorite, Ruffles, J-1, has been traveling up and down the west side, alone, making the same vocalization constantly. While this isn’t a single event that is unprecedented, it is highly unusual to have him here so very far away from the rest of J pod, ( no known location of the whereabouts of J pod). My other concern is Ruffles is close to 60 years old, quite a bit older than the average male orca lifespan. Due to his older age, perhaps he is experiencing a “senior moment” or maybe he was off on his own on his own mission.

There is some speculation as to the behavior and specific vocalization he is demonstrating.  But right now it is a waiting game to the outcome.  It’s common to see transient orca males alone. However having a single resident orca traveling alone is concerning and mystifying.

I have added a link to Ruffle’s calls that were recorded yesterday. <http://orcasound.net/wholistener/lk/detections/raw/2010/01/27/PWRAveDb113_01_27_2010_11_31_37.mp3>, hopefully you can listen to it. Or you can go to <www.orcasound.net> and listen live periodically throughout the day today.

Tom Averna
Deer Harbor Charters

Ruffles, taken during a summer trip

Just us and the pelicans on a deserted beach near St Petersburg, Florida. We’re enjoying life on the boat and being here.

Between Thursday 10 and Friday 11 December a  pod of seven sperm whales stranded on the coast of the Gargano Peninsula (Italy), in the Southern Adriatic Sea.  The animals – including several males of 10+ m - are scattered along a stretch of about six km of beach; five have already died.  Bystanders reported that two more animals were able to regain deep waters, however this is currently unconfirmed.
Mass strandings of sperm whales are extremely rare in the Mediterranean, and limited to ancient times. These include a stranding of 16, reported near Mazzara del Vallo (Sicily) in 1734, and a stranding of six occurred near Cittanova d’Istria, northern Adriatic Sea, in 1853.

Scientists from the Centro Studi Cetacei, the Natural History Museum of Milan, and the Italian universities of Bari, Padua (Sandro Mazzariol, also member of the ACCOBAMS emergency task force), Pavia, Siena, and Las Palmas (Spain), among others, are on site since this morning and coordinate operations and scientific analyses. Necropsies will hopefully help determining whether such atypical stranding might be connected with the presence of specific human activities likely to be hazardous to cetaceans in the area.
Some photos of the mass stranding event, taken on Saturday 12th between 10:45 AM and 1:45 PM, can be viewed from the web page below:
http://www.tethys.org/download/focevarano/ <http://www.tethys.org/download/focevarano/>

–
Giuseppe   Notarbartolo   di   Sciara
Chair, ACCOBAMS Scientific Committee
giuseppe@disciara.net -  www.accobams.org <http://www.accobams.org>